The Life of Jesus (1998)

Bruno Dumont makes his feature film debut with LIFE OF JESUS, a powerful, tense drama that incorporates several different styles to create a distinctly new vision. The story follows Freddy (David Douche), an uneducated 20-year-old epileptic who lives in a small town in Northern France with his mother. His true sources of joy are spending time with his girlfriend Marie (Marjorie Cottreel) and riding his motorcycle with his gang of chronically unemployed friends. When Kader (Kader Chaatouf), a handsome Arabian stranger, moves to town and tries to seduce Marie, she rejects his advances, convinced of what will happen if Freddy finds out. When Freddy does, he and his friends take out their jealousy in a way that even Marie could not have projected.

Dumont, working with nonprofessional actors, much like French master Robert Bresson, strikingly blends static camera work with exhilarating moving shots of Freddy on his motorcycle, which creates a subconscious tension that finally erupts by the film's climax. Rather than being merely a subtle thriller, however, LIFE OF JESUS also works as a powerful social commentary--as well as a striking religious metaphor--firmly establishing Dumont as a force to be reckoned with in modern world cinema.